The Big Fat Surprise

Why Butter, Meat, and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet

Dish up the red meat, eggs, and whole milk! In this well-researched and captivating narrative, veteran food writer Nina Teicholz proveshow everything we’ve been told about fat is wrong.

For decades, Americans have cut back on red meat and dairyproducts full of “bad” saturated fats. We obediently complied with nutritionalguidelines to eat “heart healthy” fats found in olive oil, fish, and nuts, andfollowed a Mediterranean diet heavy on fruits, vegetables, and grains. Yet thenation’s health has declined. What is going on?

In The Big Fat Surprise, Teicholz reveals how sixtyyears of nutrition science has gotten it so wrong: how overzealous researchershave made basic scientific mistakes that, through a mix of ego and bias, allowdangerous misrepresentations to become dogma, and how scientists who daredoppose this consensus have been ostracized. For eight years, Teicholz has poredover the massive research literature and interviewed hundreds of leadingexperts to unravel the shockingly distorted claims of nutrition studies. Shebrings these researchers to life and shows how their ambitions, loyalties, andrivalries have undermined a field of research already full of difficultpitfalls.

With a lively narrative style akin to Michael Pollan’s in TheOmnivore’s Dilemma and the scientific rigor of Gary Taubes in GoodCalories, Bad Calories, Teicholzconvincingly upends the conventional wisdom about all fats. Hergroundbreaking claim is that more dietary fat leads to better health, wellness,and fitness. Science shows that reducing the saturated fat in our diets hasbeen disastrous for our health as a nation, and we can, guilt-free, welcomethese “whole fats” back into our lives.

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